The bond, which has a two-year maturity, was sold to a single investor, the sources added.

QNB did not respond to a request for comment.

The Qatari lender has recently tapped different forms of financing as it aims to diversify funding resources amid an ongoing regional diplomatic rift that started in June last year.

Last month it issued its first Australian dollar-denominated “Kangaroo” bond, raising A$700 million ($555.52 million) with maturities of five and 10 years.

It also sold a $720 million, 30-year Formosa bond, which is a note sold by foreign issuers in Taiwan in currencies other than the Taiwanese dollar.

Banking sources said QNB could potentially issue a public U.S. dollar-denominated bond this year – which would be its first since the beginning of the diplomatic crisis – but only after an international bond sale by the Qatari government, which could take place as early as in the first quarter of this year. ($1 = 1.2601 Australian dollars) (Editing by Kirsten Donovan)